Samuel Elijah Kibirige is the Fourth last born in the family of 22 children. He was born during the Late Idi Amin’s regime which left so many fatherless children and widows. By the time he began to understand, my family was spending every night in the bush for fear of being invaded and killed in the wee hours of the night. Elijah says “I remember a time when Amin’s soldiers invaded our community, stole from every household and caused every woman to run away from the village due to fear of being raped. Some days later, we learnt that Amin had been overpowered and that a new President had been installed. However, after a short period of time, we had some men with guns staying in the forests that were in our villages. Later we learnt that they were going to fight the ruling government so that the nation would be liberated. Of course many things happened and many children were recruited, trained and started engaging in the war. For us who were very young,were left in fear and confusion. Read More
One night, we were instructed to vacate our homes and go to distant places where we would be safe because our villages had been declared ‘Danger Zones’ and eventually weended up in the jungles for 5 years. Practically we became homeless and were completely left with nothing. The 5 years of life in the jungles left many of us who were children traumatized, confused, helpless and hopeless. I remember a time when I was only 7 years, we had spent some good weeks depending on some hide skins for feeding, my mother and 3 of my siblings decided to go fetch for food in some very distant areas, I was left alone in the jungle for 3 weeks with one hide skin to feed on! I would soak it for some days, cut a piece, roast it and eat with a cup of water. Thank God that in 1986, the current president took over power and we were able to go back to our villages. Most of the children, who hadn’t joined the army, returned to the villages and straight away became alcoholics. Personally, I am glad that at 12years of age, I got an opportunity to start school. Unfortunately, I was taken to a school which belonged to the Army and of course most of the teachers were soldiers. This again added to my trauma! In fact I lived in fear throughout my childhood and I couldn’t freely express myself at all. I used to be very reserved, troubled and with a very low self-esteem. Actually at one time I thought of taking my very life because life didn’t hold any meaning at all. I was in my own world and no one seemed to care.
My turning point came in January 1987 during our school holiday when I met two young people who became my friends and they had been raised by their parents and we did life with them as we encouraged each other and life became better.
When my life was turned around, I prayed to God to provide for me so that I would be able to help children whose lives are at risk just as I was. I got to understand that it was an injustice for the children of my age to suffer the things I had suffered, to be denied an opportunity to be raised by their parents, to fail to have food, shelter and attend school like other children who were in Kampala.
However, during my journey of studying, my guardian told me that he no longer had my school fees. I therefore dropped out of school in senior two. However, I promised myself that one day I would go back and study. I went back to the village and in January 1996, I then later left for Kampala and I was on the street for a full year but later got hired for a job. At the appropriate time, I got married to Jane Kibirige and God blessed us with 4 children. While at my Job, I was the in charge of the local community reach out.It was during that time that I started meeting people from my home area who were in the city slums with no skill, no education, but on drugs. I realized that some of them were the children we were with in the jungles during the war and others were their children. Their story hadn’t changed at all and there was no hope that it would ever change. By this time, I had been able to resume with my studies and I am glad that today I hold a Master’s Degree!
When I saw the faces of these men and women trying to hide so that I don’t see them, I remembered the promise I made to God years back, I went and visited the village, talked to local leaders who told me stories and stories of some of these people who had gone to Kampala but after selling off their inherited family land, bought motorcycles to work in Kampala but failed and had no place to return to. The whole village unanimously requested me to help start a school and support their children attain some level of education and also help teach them as adults in ways they could be able to improve their livelihoods.
Where we are now
With only Ugx 500,000/= ($300.00), in February 2009, I opened the GOSHEM School (GOHEM CENTRE _ KUFFU) with 60 children. Currently we have a population of 300 children and every year, apart from the two years of COVID-19, at least 15 children join Secondary School after sitting for their Primary Leaving Exams at GOSHEM. We are glad to see that the story of the community has started to change. There is room for more children to join the school but due to the limited resources, we find it so hard for now to take on more children.
Over the years, we have been able to impact the community in a tremendous way. Our structures have kept on improving from papyrus to some well-constructed classrooms and though affected by the pandemic and inflation, a Healthy Center and a Skills Training Center were being constructed.
Besides the ripples of the bush war, we have again been so affected by Covid-19, inflation and now Ebola. Our sources of income were brought down to an extent that we are unable to pay teachers’ salaries, feed the children and provide their medical care, etc.
Some of the people who were supporting us are no longer able to support us because their businesses were brought down. We had also tried to raise some local resources through some income generating projects but they also failed due to the effects of Covid-19, inflation and Ebola.
Looking at the year 2023, I see that something has to be done if I am to keep the school in operation and support the 300 children and the teachers.
It is on this premises that I write to request youand your friends to come to our aid and help us keep the dream alive.
Samuel Elijah Kibirige is the Fourth last born in the family of 22 children. He was born during the Late Idi Amin’s regime which left so many fatherless children and widows. By the time he began to understand, my family was spending every night in the bush for fear of being invaded and killed in the wee hours of the night. Elijah says “I remember a time when Amin’s soldiers invaded our community, stole from every household and caused every woman to run away from the village due to fear of being raped. Some days later, we learnt that Amin had been overpowered and that a new President had been installed. However, after a short period of time, we had some men with guns staying in the forests that were in our villages. Later we learnt that they were going to fight the ruling government so that the nation would be liberated. Of course many things happened and many children were recruited, trained and started engaging in the war. For us who were very young,were left in fear and confusion. Read More
One night, we were instructed to vacate our homes and go to distant places where we would be safe because our villages had been declared ‘Danger Zones’ and eventually weended up in the jungles for 5 years. Practically we became 
homeless and were completely left with nothing. The 5 years of life in the jungles left many of us who were children traumatized, confused, helpless and hopeless. I remember a time when I was only 7 years, we had spent some good weeks depending on some hide skins for feeding, my mother and 3 of my siblings decided to go fetch for food in some very distant areas, I was left alone in the jungle for 3 weeks with one hide skin to feed on! I would soak it for some days, cut a piece, roast it and eat with a cup of water. 
Thank God that in 1986, the current president took over power and we were able to go back to our villages. Most of the children, who hadn’t joined the army, returned to the villages and straight away became alcoholics. Personally, I am glad that at 12years of age, I got an opportunity to start school. Unfortunately, I was taken to a school which belonged to the Army and of course most of the teachers were soldiers. This again added to my trauma! In fact I lived in fear throughout my childhood and I couldn’t freely express myself at all. I used to be very reserved, troubled and with a very low self-esteem. Actually at one time I thought of taking my very life because life didn’t hold any meaning at all. I was in my own world and no one seemed to care.
My turning point came in January 1987 during our school holiday when I met two young people who became my friends and they had been raised by their parents and we did life with them as we encouraged each other and life became better.
When my life was turned around, I prayed to God to provide for me so that I would be able to help children whose lives are at risk just as I was. I got to understand that it was an injustice for the children of my age to suffer the things I had suffered, to be denied an opportunity to be raised by their parents, to fail to have food, shelter and attend school like other children who were in Kampala.
However, during my journey of studying, my guardian told me that he no longer had my school fees. I therefore dropped out of school in senior two. However, I promised myself that one day I would go back and study. I went back to the village and in January 1996, I then later left for Kampala and I was on the street for a full year but later got hired for a job. At the appropriate time, I got married to Jane Kibirige and God blessed us with 4 children. While at my Job, I was the in charge of the local community reach out.It was during that time that I started meeting people from my home area who were in the city slums with no skill, no education, but on drugs. I realized that some of them were the children we were with in the jungles during the war and others were their children. Their story hadn’t changed at all and there was no hope that it would ever change. By this time, I had been able to resume with my studies and I am glad that today I hold a Master’s Degree!
When I saw the faces of these men and women trying to hide so that I don’t see them, I remembered the promise I made to God years back, I went and visited the village, talked to local leaders who told me stories and stories of some of these people who had gone to Kampala but after selling off their inherited family land, bought motorcycles to work in Kampala but failed and had no place to return to. The whole village unanimously requested me to help start a school and support their children attain some level of education and also help teach them as adults in ways they could be able to improve their livelihoods.
